Monday, October 29, 2007

Sierra singing "Hero" by Mariah Carey, which won her the title of American Idol!

PS22's 2005 American Idol Competition showcased the talents of some amazing performers! The finalists were all incredible, and developed their acts with unbelievable professionalism. And now it's time to immortalize these performances on the blog!

First here are some rather entertaining auditions! Here are two PS22 Chorus members of 2005-6, Cynthia (singing Mary J. Blige's Real Love) & Russell (being Russell!)

The next video is from the semi-finals round. Here I get ambushed by contestant Shiva, who was auditioning in the comedy category! I must say, he got me good! But I get MY revenge about two minutes into the video, when some little boy comes into the auditorium to give me a cupcake for his birthday! And boy, revenge was never so "sweet"!!!

Another video from the semi-finals round! The amazing Ben (whose performance of Kirk Franklin's "Now Behold The Lamb" has gotten over 25,000 hits on the internet) performs, "Not Guilty (Thank You Lord For Saving Us)" by John P. Kee and The New Life Choir. Ben is one of the greatest talents to ever come out of the PS22 Chorus! And I'm happy to say he is still singing, and sounds better than ever! Enjoy him here in his fifth grade year, and at the top of his game!

Here now is first grader, Shawn, singing his awesome version of Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Poor Shawn, he planned his act meticulously from beginning to end, and as it happens in show business, NOTHING goes as planned! Didn't matter though -- it made his act even more hysterical and adorable! And he ended up winning the title of Extreme Junior Singer (kindergarten through second grade) American Idol!

Here third grader Mariah sings Lumidee's hit song "I'll Never Leave You (Uh Oh)", and rocks the house!!

Ziha sings an incredible version of Simple Plan's, "Welcome To My Life"!!

And here we have fourth grader Alexa singing a fantastic rendition of Michelle Branch's "All You Wanted". Her sensitive performance and unique timbre won her the title of American Idol in the Junior Singer category (third and fourth grade).

And finally, here is the amazing Sierra, with her title-winning performance of Mariah Carey's "Hero" at the American Idol 2 Competition! Sierra literally had the crowd roaring with enthusiasm and thunderous applause! Safe to say, SHE NAILED IT!

28 comments:

twinnies:)
said...

Hey Mr.B! how are you? Good I hope,how is everyone over there?how is the new chorus? I bet they sound really good cause you are the best music teacher!!!!! Who doesnt know that? Well i hope that all goes well. We really miss everyone over there. Tell everyone we say HI:) TWINNIES:)

hey twinnies!! hope intermediate school is going well!! thanks so much for your sweetness!! we miss you too obviously, and are looking forward to your next visit -- which will be...... WHEN ALREADY?!?!

Hey Mr.B, we are still trying to figure out when we will visit. We dont know yet we have to try to find a day when we are off and you are not. Everything in school is going well we get report cards on tuesday(tomorrow). So thats it. TWINNIES

Hey Mr.B! We did really good on our report cards. We are all proud:D Guess what,we auditioned for a childrens choir at our school. We are singing at the gray towers in milford. We had our 1st practice on wednesday,we only have two more practices left. For one of the songs we are singing part of silent night in the end. I think this is going to be fun. It's like old times with the chorus from last year. Well, thats it(I should stop writing or you will be reading this for 2 days) twinnies

so good to hear from you!! and congrats on awesome, although not altogether UNEXPECTEDLY awesome report cards!! you guys are so amazing in every way!! and big congrats on the chorus as well!! how cool that you're doing 'silent night'?! please let me know how the performance goes!

heyy mr.b ...this is roxy ... aww man i remember all the good times i had in ps.22 day after day year after year it got better nand better .... i saw all the videos we all look so little n young that i started to cry because those were the bet memories that i had in that school. suprisenly most of ues are still all together. i never thought i'd be writing you well here i am lol i just wanted to say that i miss you n everybody at the school.how are you and your new choruses tell them i sed hii n to keep up the good work.they sound amazing i bet lol.... i mean come on your there teacher lol .well i'll come visit soon and maybe my lil sis goes to that school soon well ttyl love you guys biii p.s. lol you remember how i used to get nervous i would start to cry and i wouldnt want to do the american idol show because i was scared and embaressed lol well i got over the embaressment and being terrified that i will be singing at my 8TH grade graduation with miss.lopa n guess who im singing with .... jazzy jazz samuel {sam} and the one and only beatrice we are having so much fun with it lol well ttyl <3...

oh man, that's not fair! i wish i could see you sing at your graduation! you had such a great voice, and yeah, i remember you were VERY shy about singing alone in front of other people. it's great to hear that you're gaining the confidence you should have in your amazing talent!

yeah, we had a great year indeed -- mrs. burns and i miss you too, and it was so great to see you the other day! i hope you will continue to visit, cuz i really miss you guys when you graduate. it means so much that you guys come back, and that's one of the most rewarding things of my work. i really do miss you guys when you graduate.

hope you found all of your old videos. i have a long post with a lot of songs from your year. i am DYING to find the video of your holiday show. that's the only holiday show i've ever done at ps22 that i can't seem to find. :(

anyway, great to hear from you, and congratulations on your upcoming graduation. you'll have to tell me how the performance goes -- how cool that three of my chorus alumni are singing together! i want every detail!

well, either way, man or woman, it's too bad she sounds like a duck.... :) either way, i would love to see you on thursday, but i'm not working after school that day unfortunately.... i usually work afterschool on wednesdays, so that's the best day to visit. :) (of course it would always be a wise thing to leave a message for me the day before so i can let you know for sure if i'll be there.....)

hey mr.b itz ANITHA. im not sure if you remember me i used to be in the 5th grade chorus in ..ummm maybe 2005 im not sure. anyway wanted to say hi and i miss you you were the best chorus teacher i ever had. how are you?? and hows everything?? hope to talk to you!!!! :-)

oh!!! i also wanted to tell that ive seen youtube videos of the chorus singing and wanted to cry cuz it was soo long ago and we look so young. that was the best times.lolz anyway ive been doing alot better with my confidence in singing in front of people ive had got to sing at snug harbor with my old middle school and on cable as a soloist. anywayz i just want say thanks because you helped alot with getting me not so shy anymore. anyways just say hello to everyone for me and MISS YOU!!! lolz :-)

hi anitha! of course i remember you! i miss you too, and thank you for all the amazing things you said about me and your time with the 22 chorus! you soloed on cable?!?! was that this year??? i gotta check that out!!

say hello to your folks and all the ol' gang from 22! so good to hear from you! :)

Tori Amos

"They were so good! Their arrangements -- their sound -- it was so good.... It was...... disarming. It means so much that they took it and made it their own."-- Tori Amos after a private performance by the PS22 Chorusof her songs at the Sony Atrium in N.Y.C.

Common

"I feel honored to perform with PS22. The energy brought me up to a natural high on music and art, and just the spirits of you all. You all are so exciting to perform with..... I'm gonna remember this day forever."--hip hop legendCommonon performing with the PS22 Chorus at the National Tree Lighting 2009 for President Obama

David Cook

"Oh my God! It's ridiculous... It is incredible how good you guys are!!"-- David Cook, American Idol winner, after singing with PS22 Chorus!

Bonnie Hunt

Innocence Mission

"What a beautiful, beautiful, joyful version. It is a huge improvement on the original. The children brought tears to my eyes with their glorious singing and smiles. I so love the energy of this performance, the arrangement, the harmonies, everything."-- Karen PerisofThe Innocence Missionin apersonal message to the PS22 Chorusafter seeing the kids' video of the song "There" from their album, GLOW

Tribute WTC

Wikipedia

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IMPROVS

Improvising is a skill that really demands great natural musical ability, particularly to do it at 9 or 10 years old! All of the following songs were being created and recorded as you hear them here (with some minor post-editing). PS22 Chorus member JUSTIN, with occasional super-special guests including legendary PS22 Chorus Alumni CLIVE, DEON, BEN, ADIZA, KARIMA, BRI-AH, & AMANDA D., demonstrates the technique brilliantly.

Stevie Nicks

B.J. Novak

"My God! We watch you all the time at work, at The Office, all the actors, all the writers... You guys are amazing! I swear to you, you're an inspiration, keep it up!"-- B.J. Novak, star of The Office, raves about the PS22 Chorusat The Webby Awards!

Sinead O'Connor

"Most beautiful, joyous thing I seen apart from me own children ." -- Sinead O'Connorafter seeing the PS22 Chorus video of her song "Jackie!" PS22 was then invited to be the opening act for her concert at the Highline Ballroom in New York City.

Passion Pit

"These kids made the record what we had been dreaming it to be, as they are integral parts of three songs.... It felt so unbelievable to have the exact sound that I wanted coming through the headphones...."-- Michael Angelakosof Passion Pit on recording with the PS22 Chorus

Nancy Pelosi

"...You indeed, as you sing, 'rule the world!'"--Speaker of the HouseNancy Pelosiafter hearing the chorus sing at the Capitol